Justin Lin, the director of Universal's Fast Five, is ready to gas up for a sequel, following the turbo-charged opening weekend during which the heavily muscled movie took in $86.2 million in North America.

While Universal had no official comment on the inevitable sequel's status, the studio was gearing up for further installments of the franchise even before the movie opened domestically.

The road-racing premise that fueled the original movies in the series was retooled in Fast Five, which stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson, to bring in a heist element that could be developed further in future films.

And as The Hollywood Reporterreported April 19, Universal has signed Chris Morgan, the writer of the third, fourth and fifth installments, to a two-year, first-look pact, and he plans to write a Fast Six.

After the closing credits of Fast Five, a brief scene between Johnson -- in character as Hobbs -- and actress Eva Mendes aired for moviegoers who stayed long enough, introducing a new case that seemed to propel the franchise forward. Spoiler alert: The case involved a robbery that Michelle Rodriguez's Letty, who was murdered in 2009's Fast & Furious, is somehow involved in -- indicating that she is in fact alive.

"At five, we're just hitting our stride," said Lin, who directed the last three movies in the franchise. "We're growing. People want to continue this journey."